NAIROBI (Reuters) – The Kenyan shilling extended gains on Wednesday, hitting its strongest in more than three months as confidence the government would pay off a Eurobond maturing in June buoyed investor appetite.
The shilling strengthened over 3% against the U.S.
dollar to reach 150.00/151.00, a level it last traded at on Oct. 26, compared with Tuesday’s close of 155.50/156.50 to the dollar, LSEG data showed.
Earlier this week Kenya sold a new $1.5 billion Eurobond maturing in 2031 which it will use to buy back via a tender offer a large chunk of the $2 billion international bond due in June.
One trader said confidence the 2024 Eurobond would be repaid had helped stop panic buying of foreign currency that has seen the shilling set repeated record lows since late 2021.
Other factors supporting the currency include foreign inflows into a 70 billion shilling infrastructure bond on sale and the central bank talking up the shilling as it raised interest rates again last week.
The tender offer for the 2024 Eurobond expires on Wednesday, with the results expected on Thursday.
(Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Alexander Winning, Sonia Cheema and Toby Chopra)
